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Originally posted by Anarchos When php was first created the php did stand for personal home page, but they've since changed it to mean php hypertext preprocessor.

Yes that is right! It wasn't until version 3 that they started calling it PHP Hypertext Preprocessor. Incidentally, it wasn't until version 3 when they actually got some public eye, so "Personal Home Pages" was rarely ever heard of.

Pre-hypertext preprocessor

Well, the original name as I know it was PRE-Hypertext preprocessor. That was way way back when. It seems the most logical meaning as well, since PHP code is processed before, or "PRE", to the sending of the resulting HTML.

At one point in time, they called it Personal Home Pages. Why I don't know, but a damn dumb name that was if you ask me.

The current PHP Hypertext Processor is just as illogical, but it seems to fit with the open-source geeky naming convention.

I myself prefer ASP (and now ASP.NET - extremely flexible and damn fast!), as I have been using it since it was introduced, LONG before PHP was ever conceived of. ASP's interaction with COM gives me far more control than PHP ever will.

Originally posted by AnarchosWhen php was first created the php did stand for personal home page, but they've since changed it to mean php hypertext preprocessor.

^^^ what he said ^^^

Pine Is Not Elm what does Pine stand for then?

- Matt ** Ignore old signature for now... **
Dr.BB - Highly optimized to be 2-3x faster than the "Big 3." "Do not enclose numeric values in quotes -- that is very non-standard and will only work on MySQL." - MattR

Which means: the Laboratory for Shuttering, Reinforcement, Concrete and Ferroconcrete Operations for Composite-monolithic and Monolithic Constructions of the Department of Technology of Building Assembly Operations of the Scientific Research Institute of the Organization for Building Mechanization and Technical Aid of the Academy of Building and Architecture of the USSR

But yes it's PHP Hypertext Pre-processor now, and it was Personal Home Page as PHP started as a collection of scripts written to make the running of a personal home page easier.

[off-topic]
Incidentally the person that said ASPs interaction with COM gives it more flexability than PHP will ever have is discounting the fact that PHP has COM support too as well as support for including Java into it too (Such as your compiled JAR files etc.), combined with the fact that PHP can run on far more platforms than ASP makes it extremely flexible - but of course you knew all those things before you posted your comment?
[/off-topic]

Which means: the Laboratory for Shuttering, Reinforcement, Concrete and Ferroconcrete Operations for Composite-monolithic and Monolithic Constructions of the Department of Technology of Building Assembly Operations of the Scientific Research Institute of the Organization for Building Mechanization and Technical Aid of the Academy of Building and Architecture of the USSR

Sorry, I couldn't help myself
Owen

Gosh, I never knew that. Thanks for the info. How about the first computer crime in the US?

I suspect that like a lot of computer acronyms, the acronym came first and then someone decided what it stood for...

For example BASIC was BASIC long before someone dicided it stood for Beginners All purpose Symbolic Instruction Code.
I believe it was M$ (fairly recently) who decided that PING stood for Packet InterNetwork Groper (I love that one!!)

So, the real question is, what does "C" stand for? And why do "D"?

Oh, and BTW, thanks for the long acronym - I just LOVE collecting useless information - like did you know the Elephant is the only creature to have 4 kneecaps?

Me too! I like learning new useless information like the one about who the "true love" is in the song "Twelve Days of Christmas" and that all gifts has a symbolic meaning. You probably know that by now but I just did.

I believe, for a short time, "PHP Hypertext Preprocessor" stood for "'Personal Home Page' Hypertext Preprocessor" but they chaged that to the recursive one soon after
( atleast that is what a book I have read states )

Why on earth would you still be arguing this, I posted the link(7 posts up) to where Rasmus Lerdorf(creator of PHP) tells you exactly where the name came from and how it evolved. I suggest anyone who wants to post their idea of what it means read that link before opening mouth.

Please don't PM me with questions.
Use the forums, that is what they are here for.